Wire couch fabric.



C. H. GAIL.

WIRE GOUCH FABRIC.

APPLIGATION PILED JAN. 13, 1913.

1087,755. Patentea Feb. 17,1914.

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CHARLES H. GAIL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

WIRE COUCH FABRIC.

Application filed January 13, 1913.

To aZZ 'Lu/zlom may con/cem:

Be it known that I, Ci-rAnLEs H. GAIL, a citizen of the lUnited States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lt'llinois, haveinvented certain new and useful lniprorements in lVire Couch Fabrics, ofwhich the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to improvements in Wire couch fabrics, and has forone of its objects to provide, for beds or couches, a fab 1ic that ispractically inextensible but flexiblc in all directions and readilyfoldable longitudinally and transversely.

Another object of my invention is to provide, in a fabric of thischaracter, composite members or links of such nature that most of themetal of which they are composed lies in substantially the shortest pathbetween points upon which strain is imposed so that the links will notmaterially change their form or configuration when strained beyond thebending point of the wires of which they are made, thereby to preservethe original dimensions of the fabric without elongat-ion, buckling, orsagging in either direction.

Another object of my invention is to provide a fabric of this generalcharacter in which the longitudinal marginal edges are in substantiallystraight lines.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a fabrc composed of asmall variety of parts thereby to simplify t-he structure and tocontributc toward clieapening the operation of assembling the parts.

A further object of my invention is to provide a fabric wherein eachpart is of substantially symmetrical shape, adapted easily to be made byautomatic machinery, and with each part having therein only simple bendswhich do not unduly strain the wire, so that relatively cheap, orlow-grade wire will be used without sacrifice of strength.

Another object is to so interrelate the parts that each part ispositioned against displaeement or detrimental change of shape under theeffect of heavy usage.

Other and further objects of my invention will become readily apparentto persons skilled in the art from a consideration of the specificationwhen taken in conjunction with the drawing, wherein-M Figure 1 is a planview of a piece of the fabric, showing one sel'vage edge; Fig. 2 isSpecificaton of Letters Patent.

latented llfeha ilr, 19111.

serial no. 741,664.

an enlarged perspectire view of s `feral of the links.

In both views the same reference characters are employed to indicatesimilar parts.

My fabric is made up of relatively elongated, longitudinallj7 disposedmembers 5; generally similar transversely disposed members 6; andintermediate connecting links 7 of generally rhombic or diamond shape.

The members 5 are made, preferably, by centrally folding a Wire uponitself to form a rather elongated lJ-shaped structure having a closedend and substantially parallel straight limbs with hooks 8 in their freeends. These are the links of the first order. The interinediateconnectors or members 7 are the links of the second order. They are eachmade by hending a wire into a Shape substantially that of a rhoinb, thelinks being quadrangular in outline and having its free proximate endsformed into hoeks 0. The hooks 9 of links 7 enga ge the closed end 10(which in this respect may be considered as a hook) of the adjacent link5, and the hooks 8-8 of member 5 eno-age the angle 11 of the connector7. The transrerse links or tie wires 6 of the third order are providedwith hooks 12 which engage the angles 13-13 of the connectors. Theselrage connectors 14, preferably, are triangular in outline, so as toprovide, with the links a substantially straight selrage edge.

It will be obser'ved that when strain is imposed upon the fabric, as bya superimposed weight, the resultant lines of strani will be insubstantially the plane of the body portions of the quadrangularconnector members. lt is also to be observed that the strain passesthrough the relatively elongated links in linear directions. There istherefore no substantial strain imposed upon any member of the fabric insuch manner as to distort, or tend to distort, or change theconfiguration of, any of them. For the reason that the members areoriginally of that shape best calculated to withstandthe strani, thebody portions whereof are located in the shortest path between adjacentpoints at which other members are connected, there will be no materialeXpa-nsion of the fabrc to cause slack or buckling. All parts of theupper surface of the fabric will remain substantially in a single planeWhen relieved of the Weight that may be imposed upon it. This is due tothe fact that there is no extension of the parts 01' any of them Whenloaded to their load-bearing capacity.

In order to provide a smoother even top surface, the hooks, Which arelocated at t-he terminals of each of the three members of the structure,are downturned and therefore the top surface of the fabric has no raWedges.

The terminal links 5 of the structure are connected to the usual closedhelical Springs These Springs exert a considerable resilient tensionupon the respective chains of the fabric, composed of thelono'itudinally extending links 5 and the oonnectors 7, and serve todraW each of the ohains back into its horizontal position after theWeight that may have been placed on the fabric has been removed.

GWing to the fact that each the elemente of my structure is adapted notto be stretched or elongated by superimposed Weight, the Springs 15 areadapted to bring back into the normal plane each of the chains orlono'itudinally extending series of links.

W'hile I have herein shoWn a single embodiment of my invention for thepurpose of Clear disclosure, it is evident that many changes may be madeWithin the structure Without departing from the spirit and scope of theappended claims; for instance, the links 5 may be made of a single Wire,as are the links 6, and other changes may naturally Suggest themselvesto persons skilled in the art Within the spirit of my invention andWithin the scope of the appended claims.

V] hat I claim is:

1. A Wire fabric composed of three sets of parts, namely longitudinallyextending Wir-e links having end hooks, transversely extending Wirelinks having end hooks, and quadrangular Wire connectors, each saidconnector having tWo end hooks at one anglV embraced by an end hook ofone of the proximate links and its remaining angles receiving end hooksof the remaining proximate links, the sides of said connector iying insubstantially the shortest paths between the points of strain imposed onsaid links.

2. A Wire fabric composed of a plurality of chains of alternate similarmembers of the first and second orders, each member of the first ordercomprising a Wire link having its ends bent back to form engaging partsor hooks, and each member of the second order comprising a single-Wirelink having hooks at its tWo ends brought close together, said hooksjointly enga-god by an end hook of one of the proximate members of thefirst order, and the opposite portion of the member of the second orderengaged by an end iook of the remaining proximate member of the firstorder; and Wire tie links connecting the members of the second order oftransversely adjoining chains.

3. A Wire fabric comprising a plurality of chains of alternately similarmembers of the first and second orders, each member of the first orderbeing a relatively long narroW link of Wire doubled and bent to provideclosed end and two substant-ially parallel straight linibs each having ahook at its free end; each member of the second order comprising arhombic Wire link With hooks at its ends lying side by side at oneangle, the closed end of each meni. er of the first order eng-aging bothhooks of a member of the second order and having its end hooks engagingthe opposite angle of another member of the second order; and tran verselinks having end hooks engaging the remaining angles of members of thesecond order lying in adjacent chains.

In testimony Whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of twoWitnesses.

CHARLES E. GAIL.

In the presence of- Fomn Bern, Many F. ALLEN.

Copies oi this patent may be obtaine for five cents each, by addressingthe Commlssoner of Patenti,

Washington, D. C3'

